Last May at the Nissan Net Run down in JROCC I discovered I had a blown CV boot, the joint was already thunking and clunking so there was no point n replacing it. I finished the weekend on it and started searching for a replacement. It was looking like I was going to have to spend at least $150 for the part when my friend and fellow Nissan owner OffroadX said he had a line on one on Ebay. He sniped the auction for me and I got the axle for $35 including shipping.
Looking in the Factory Service Manual and Chiltons/Haynes guides as well as Alldata I saw that the job, while not all that hard, was scheduled to take 3-4 hours. It did, the first time, the second time we did it in under and hour and a half.
I highly recommend having someone working with you as a helper. The job will go faster and be way more fun. Again, OffroadX came to my rescue and worked with me to get this job done.
Block the rear wheels and jack up the front of the vehicle and put it on stands, remove the wheel on the side in question. I suggest removing the wheel from the other side too tho you don't have too. Put the Transmission in neutral and the T-case in 4high....You'll need to slip from 2 to 4 high at different times to lock the driveshaft while accessing and loosening or tightening the CV/Diff bolts.
Remove the five bolts attaching the axle to the diff. NOTE these are 12 point bolts you *MUST* use a 12 point socket to remove them. An air wrench or air ratchet with a long extension makes things nice and easy. You're not going for high torque so I just used a regular 8" extension to reach in there. Be ready to use a strap wrench to turn the front driveshaft so the diff flange rotates to allow access to all the bolts.
Open up the 4wd hub and remove the snap ring holding the axle inside the wheel hub.
Disconnect the outer tie rod end from the front of the knuckle.
Remove the disk brake caliper and wire it up out of the way.
Carefully use a jack to lift and support the lower control arm, keeping an eye on the nearside jackstand to be safe. Unbolt the four bolts securing the upper A-Arm to the ball joint and wire it up out of the way too.
Use your hand to turn the steering knuckle to the right as far as it'll go (for removing drivers axle, turn left to remove the passenger side axle) and rotate the wheel hub out and down towards the front. Work the axle out along the frame towards the rear. At this point you will likely end up determining the shock has to be removed as well, do so if required. There is only about half an inch of clearance but there IS room to wriggle it out. Use a jack to raise or lower the lower control arm and wheel hub if needed.
Make sure that the spacer came out with the old axle, it's a copper alloy washer about an eighth of an inch thick that goes over the outer end of the shaft and rides against the back of the wheel hub. If you leave it in there and your replacement axle has one on it too, you won't be able to get the snap ring on and you'll have to uninstall it and start over (mind you'll be able to slip it out and back in about an hour this time
If your replacement axle is used and has one on it already, stick with the one that came with the replacement. Otherwise, re-use the one that came off your old axle, it shouldn't be too thick to prevent the snap ring from going back into place.Grease the splined axle shaft and slip the replacement axle in the same way the old one came out.
Bolt the inside end to the diff with the five 12 point bolts, Install the snap ring in the hub and replace the hub cover (for Manual hubs Autos require more doing)
Replace the tie rod end, be sure to use a new cotter pin. Replace the shock if it was removed earlier.
Lower and bolt the upper A-Arm to the upper ball joint.
Replace the caliper.
Test the 4wd action making sure everything turns OK.
Replace the wheels, lower the wagon and test drive. Have a beer, you just saved $400 which you can now spend on other mods.